Newtowners Tell Pollsters ––

‘Love The Town,

Hate The Taxes!’

By Andrew Gorosko

Respondents to a recent public opinion poll generally rate the local quality of life much more highly than it is typically rated in other communities.

But poll respondents also are more critical than usual about the local level of property taxation.

Those are among the observations of two pollsters who recently discussed the results of the public opinion survey with members of the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).

Oscar Allain and Michael Vigeant of the Center for Research and Public Policy discussed poll results at a P&Z session June 27.

The comprehensive public opinion survey found that virtually all respondents describe the local quality of life in clearly positive terms, with 99.3 percent of those answering the poll characterizing the quality of life here as either “very good” or “good.” More than 65 percent of the respondents to the community planning survey described the local quality of life as “very good,” and over 34 percent described it as “good.”

But just over three-quarters of the residents surveyed believe that their property taxes are too high for the level of services that are provided by the town.

More than 23 percent of respondents believe that the level of property taxation is correct. More than two-thirds of respondents believe that local taxes are higher than taxes in neighboring communities, while only just over one percent believes that Newtown taxes are lower than other towns. About 22 percent of respondents state that taxes here are about the same as in neighboring communities.

 The polling firm queried 401 residents via telephone between May 21 and 25. The firm conducted the poll as part of the P&Z’s ongoing revision to the Town Plan of Conservation and Development.

P&Z member William O’Neil asked the pollsters which survey results differ notably from the results of similar polls in other towns.

Mr Vigeant said that is quite unusual for 99.3 percent of those answering an opinion poll to list the local quality of life as either “very good” or “good.”

Such positive ratings for the local quality of life more typically lie within the 70 to 80 percent range, Mr Vigeant said.

The poll results indicate the town has “a good sense of community,” he said. People are aware and are opinionated, he said.

Mr Allain pointed out that approximately 75 percent of respondents indicate that local property taxes are too high.

Such a response more typically scores in the low 60 percent range, Mr Vigeant said.

“There’s a lot of useful information [in the poll results] that can help you make decisions,” Mr Vigeant told P&Z members.

Resident Ruby Johnson of Chestnut Hill Road asked P&Z members about aspects of the opinion poll.

Ms Johnson noted that in the mid-1990s, the town purchased two building lots on the west side of Commerce Road for approximately $130,000, which would provide the town with an accessway to approximately 38 acres that are eyed for industrial development. That acreage is adjacent to the privately owned Commerce Park industrial park on Commerce Road.

“We have 38 acres waiting for corporate development,” she said. The state would deed its 38 acres to the town for new industrial development, she said.

Mrs Johnson said it is unfortunate that the public opinion survey did not query respondents about the desirability of industrial development there.

The poll results indicated that while almost two-thirds of respondents support “economic commercial development” at Fairfield Hills and in Hawleyville, only about 50 percent of respondents support more such development along Route 25.

Poll takers called both listed and unlisted telephone numbers in the random sample. Persons polled anonymously were current residents, who are the heads of households and who are at least 18 years old. The poll has a margin of error of five percent, at a 95 percent confidence level. Such surveys reflect respondents’ opinions during the time period during which the poll was conducted.

With guidance from P&Z members, the polling firm designed the survey to statistically analyze a representative sample of residents’ opinions on the quality of life, local issues, community character, residential development, housing, economic development, conservation, the environment, open space use, parks and recreation, taxes, regulations, and demographics.

P&Z members plan to use the poll results to help them formulate the 2003 town plan revision. The town plan, which is updated decennially, provides a frame of reference through which P&Z assesses local growth and land conservation. A town plan sets broad goals for the town’s future. The revised town plan will be published in June 2003 and will remain in effect until 2013.

Newtown was one of the fastest growing municipalities in the state between 1990 to 2000, with the local population growing by more than 20 percent during that period, reaching a total of 25,031 people on April 1, 2000, according to the US Census.

The polling firm produced an 84-page report explaining the results of its survey. The poll cost the town approximately $13,000.